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astraltrickster · 4 days

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Guys I don't normally talk about this on this blog, so I'm only going to say it once, and im going to say it as calmly as I can:

Stop with the pro-Trump - sorry, "anti-Biden" propaganda.

Stop spinning this as a choice between good domestic policy and bad foreign policy vs. bad domestic policy and good foreign policy - there is no universe in which Donald "Muslim ban" "build the wall" "turn Gaza into a parking lot" "has streets named after him in Israel" Trump is an improvement on our foreign policy, no matter how much it may FEEL like we can't get any worse and no matter how aggressively some people try to spin his end-of-term (i.e., EARLY COVID ERA) detainment numbers as "proof" otherwise.

Letting him win the presidency does NOT imply to the Democratic party that Americans want better foreign policy, either - they look at what the majority of voters say as evidence of what the people want. This is why they're so damned wishy-washy - because leftists keep trying, and trying, and trying the inaction strategy...so they go for the actual voters. They go further right - because that's where the people they see as "motivated enough to care" are. Abstaining doesn't send the message "I hate both of these options" - it just says "I don't care." It says "do whatever you want to me or anyone else, it's no skin off my nose." It says "those protestors? They're a tiny loud minority. Most Americans want more war, not less."

You cannot boycott a government the same way you can boycott a business - they're getting your tax money anyway.

You cannot change the world by sitting on your hands and doing nothing. Anyone with power who tries to tell you that inaction will get you what you want is someone who is trying to silence you.

If voting were useless, if voting made no difference, if the right weren't utterly terrified of losing power, then we wouldn't have gerrymandering, voter suppression, disenfranchisement of prisoners, disenfranchisement of anyone with a felony record, voter roll purges, we wouldn't have had to fight to secure voting rights for women and POC, the list goes on. The worst people in the world really, really want you NOT to vote. I am begging people to be more aware that just because someone knows how to speak your language to spin your silence as action does NOT mean they have the best interests of you or ANYONE else at heart.

And there is so fucking much more at stake than this one issue and "imperialists' comfort". Half the horrible shit that has happened domestically in the past four years has been because Trump stacked the Supreme Court - the overturning of Roe v. Wade? Remember that? We're likely to have more vacancies in the next 4 years. If he gets more appointments, we could be fucked for DECADES.

"But what about the rest of the world?"

Look. If I can't convince you that Trump's foreign policy would be worse (even though it is), let's consider climate change. Let's consider environmental laws. You know who the first people fucked over by climate change are, no matter who it is that's fucking around? People in Africa and South America, mostly. Do you want to enable the dismantling of the EPA? Or are you willing to admit that someone whose first act upon being sworn in was to rejoin the Paris Agreement is a lesser evil in that regard, even if his foreign policy re: international weapons sales is maybe 5% less dogshit at best?

If I can't convince you that the lives of disabled and queer people in America are worth the same as anyone else's - not more, not less, but THE SAME - then can I at least convince you that not turning Brazil and Congo into 45°C uninhabitable wastelands, or at least buying some time against that ticking clock, is a worthwhile endeavor?

I know some of you think that there's a chance that if we let Trump win, it will galvanize people to fight back harder. We tried that in 2016-2020. People died. Laws against protests tightened up worse than they EVER have under Biden - I was getting emergency alerts about curfews on a daily basis, because of crackdowns against the BLM protests. The actions being taken against the antiwar protestors now are despicable, yes - but they are nowhere near the same level of intensity. Accelerationism is tricky like that though - it FEELS like you're getting more done when the pushback is harder, doesn't it? - but all it does in the end is kill more people and set precedents to set us even further back.

Trump wants to invoke the Insurrection Act. Martial law. Do you really think that we can take on the most expensive military in the world, domestically, and win?

Do you really think that there is ANY amount of "motive" that will be enough to see us WIN a sweeping Hunger Games-style, burn it all down and rebuild from zero, "revolution" - i.e., a civil war against the US military - at all, let alone in time to save a SINGLE person in Gaza, or anywhere else for that matter? Let alone in the 5-7 months it will take to elect and inaugurate a president? The system will go on, with or without us.

At the end of the day, this is a trolley problem. People are going to die, and it sucks, but there is no third option - BUT, if you pull the lever, the casualties will be fewer. The question is not of which option results in fewer deaths, it's not of which of those lives is "more important", it's not of whether or not the numbers are ACTUALLY somehow secretly equal - it is only of whether or not you can pull the lever, or at least admit to yourself that you can't bring yourself to do it instead of trying to invent a reason the higher death toll is an objectively better outcome, actually.

Please. Think calmly for a minute about what the alternative is. Remember everything Trump has very clearly said about Arabs, remember the streets named after him in Israel, before just assuming that at least he can't be any worse, let alone that he's going to somehow be good on foreign policy and spare at least one non-American for every American he kills. Think about EVERYTHING that's at stake instead of flying into a blind rage about how that evil traitorous Joe Biden wrote "gullible" on the ceiling, because when you mistake sitting on your hands for a political statement just because the plea to do so was wrapped in emotionally charged leftist lingo, you are playing PERFECTLY into fascists' hands.

Please.

#serious tag #uspol #current events #muting this btw dont try to start shit with me #im being as calm as i can be but for me to actually say this on main?#i am EXTREMELY done #and if i have to see any more ''oh both sides are just as bad #no i dont have any evidence that a single palestinian will be saved for any american killed i just want to believe it #or i want everyone to suffer equally'' shit on my dash from people who USUALLY KNOW BETTER #i am going to spontaneously combust with an intensity that could level a city block #the devil is gonna fuck us anyway. grab a fucking condom at least.#i am begging you. just grab the fucking condom.#i dont want to just produce yet another smug rant #i am gently grabbing you by the shoulders #but i am shaking with rage internally that this talking point has been so effective #finally if i cant convince you with logos #can i at least invoke pathos + ethos and point out #on the narrative lovers' website #that ''it cant possibly get any worse'' is what we call ''tempting fate''?#if you didnt suffer that badly under trump the first time then look at the infamous b-52 diagram #and stop letting people tell you your experiences are universal #if you did then stop believing people when they piss in your eye and tell you its raining #just because biden didnt immediately bring about utopia #we're still undoing REAGAN'S damage right-wingers LOVE to set time bombs like that

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urban-orc · 1 year

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Hey folks!

Just saying that Brazil is the first country to be accepting LGBTQ refugees from any country that criminalize our lives. Yes, this include USA.

This was announced yesterday (may 19).

So... We are here with open arms. This is not an easy country for a lot of things, but we have:

Universal public health

General practitioner, vaccines, AIDS treatment, most common medicines are free or cheap, specialists, dental treatment... Including gender affirming care - there are queues, but it exist.

We have one of the world best dentistry.

Its still starting, but a lot of cities already have veterinary public health, or subsided vets to at least spay/neuter your pets.

Birthing is complicated in general, but there are some free options that are really good.

We don't have an opium crisis and our government break patents of medicines when needed. Insulin is free in the public health system. Condoms too.

Abortion is a current fighting matter.

Public education and universities

Public schools are everywhere. And every school will grant you and kids the basic things like notebooks, pencils, pens, etc, and books. Every school have a library or reading room, the government send new fiction books to schools.

Food is free in public schools, and in the majority of the places, good food. Even if most schools have the kids for 4 or 5 hours, not the entire day, there will be free lunch.

Our educational system is universal, so by law, every child and teen must be studying, disabled kids included.

If you cannot pass the tests for a public college, there are paid colleges you can go with government subsidy, and no one left college with an absurd debt. I mean, really. There are special credit lines to grant that. And the prejudice against community colleges is minimal. Its absolutely common that people work at day and go to college in the night shift.

Black and indigenous people have further affirmative policies to go and stay at college.

Unions and workers rights

Our president used to be an union leader. Even with the recent shit show (we had our own trump/jonhson like asshole) , unions are very present and we have LAWS that protect workers. Including 30 days of paid vacation every year, paid weekend, 50% extra payment for working more than 8 hours day or Sundays, 30% more per hour worked at night, social security services, paid health leave, and retirement.

We have a lot of shit going on in work environment, but unions grant lawyers to help, and everything in our work conditions is better than in USA.

Leftist parties and an almost fair voting system.

Almost because Im an anarchist so, every voting system to me is flawed as fuck BUT how far a voting system can go, Brazilians have the best option.

We have a lot of parties, both left and right. You dont have only two options. We have not one, but two communist party. Our socialist party have a huge queer presence. The presidency now is at the Workers Party hands, a left-centered bunch. I think they are not left enough, but our left center party is still much more to the left than any american party.

Our democracy is direct, every vote have the same value, there are not delegates and caucus and such stuff. Every adult need to vote, so your work cannot stop you from voting. There is one election day, its a holiday because everybody votes in the same day, from 8 am to 6 pm. Since the system is electronic, the same night we have the results.

Also, States are not independent to decide most of things. The laws are federal, so there's a consistency in rights and such things.

The greatest variety of foods

And even if inflation because our last government is still a thing, so food right now is not exactly cheap, we don't have food shortages.

There are no food deserts. Fresh food is easily available, and our climate is good to grow food at home.

In general, Brazilians have much more healthier food accessible than USAians.

And in big cities we have government programs and the MST (our Liga campesina) to help.

Guns are mostly illegal

Yes, thats what you read. We have huge gun control.

There are no school shootings. We had a few school incidents (big part of it with mellee weapons and not guns) by alt right men, but every single one was treated as a national tragedy and there's a real effort so that it don't happen again. In 20 years, we didn't had the amount of shootings that happens in a week in the USA.

Federal investigations of hate groups are happening constantly.

I could go on and on. And yes, we have problems, as any other country. But if you have the chance, come. We have our xenophobes, but mostly is a country that receive well the refugees. We have several organizations that help people to get on their feet. Caritas have even Portuguese classes specially developed for refugees.

There is racism, a lot, but it's very different than in USA, so it will take sone time to figure out wtf.

And we have A LOT of affirmative actions for minorities. We have a strong and huge queer community (better saying, various huge queer communities).

São Paulo Pride parade receives more than 1 million people.

And 1 dolar = 4 or 5 reais. Even if you don't have much money, this will make easier to you start a new life here.

#lgbtqiia+#lgbtq issues #LGBTQ #refugees #Brazil #Please come to Brazil #I want my brothers and sisters alive

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vang0bus · 5 months

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hi!!! this is all in good faith and please dont take this as an attack (also sorry for my english LOL its not my native lang). i’m /gen curious about your response to this, im open to all any opinions that can push me to change my mind.

right, i just want to start off by saying that fundamentally bipartisan system in the us sucks and i get it. i also know its scary to think about republicans being the main power in electoral politics.

anyways… be it the congress or president, you are not really voting for people, you are voting for some kind of lobby. political system in the us is a money machine.

and whereas social issues (lgbt, abortion, feminism) are only used as chess pieces and can be pushed all over the board, left or right, and be freely used to create propaganda and keep fearmongering in order to gain more voters (as republicans certainly do), that’s not the case with anything that has to do with the economy or us financial and political interest internationally.

every president, and every party wants to preserve the position of the us as an empire. and that’s required of them. they need to preserve the empire, in order to have more influence, to stimulate the economy, to get cheeper natural resources.

the current genocide going on in palestine is a matter of million (billion? idk u guys use the numbers name in a diff way) of dollars. it’s not a matter of not supporting the genocide for them, its a matter of investment for them, thats will make them a LOT of money.

that’s why the only way to make sure democrats will never again support genocide again is to take away the electoral support! that’s the only way! because otherwise, the polls will show that the support of a genocide cannot stop them from making money!

and i’m sorry, i don’t mean to sound insensitive, but there isn’t a genocide going on in the us. not in a literal sense at least.

shit sucks, and i know that, but i think you guys HAVE TO survive a couple of years of a shithead in the office if that means showing a huge decrease of support for democrats, the only thing that will make sure that democrats elected in the future will not take actions to support a genocide lol.

anyways, i hope u have a good day <3 take care

you have some good points! and i want to establish that i'm not actually from the USA at all, so this is coming from someone whos looking at US politics from the outside. i agree that threatening to withdraw electoral support might be the only way to push democrats left -- my problem isn't with people telling politicians they're not going to vote blue unless they change their stance on israel. my problem is with people on this website encouraging other leftists to abstain and saying voting does nothing. let's be real, politicians don't look at tumblr dot com. joe biden isn't seeing what anyone says about him here. the only effect this discourse will have is making people unwilling to vote democrat even if the situation changes. even if it becomes clear that that would be the best strategy. not only that, but i'm already seeing people who claim to be leftist defending trump and claiming biden is infinitely worse just based on him supporting israel, as if trump would be any less pro-israel if he was president. let's be realistic, please. you know trump would be just as bad if not worse. vote for better candidates in the primaries; absolutely do threaten democrats with loss of electoral support. but if it comes down to biden VS trump or biden VS desantis again, i really do think it would be irresponsible to abstain or to vote third party considering the current political environment in the united states.

#this will probably be the last time i actually engage with anons about this #if you want to discuss this further you can dm me or send another ask off anon so i can reply privately #im not interested in making this a discourse blog #and there are already enough people calling me slurs in my inbox #so i dont want to draw more attention to myself. thanks for being nice!#asks #anon #us politics

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yellow-yarrow · 3 years

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do i vote for the socialist party cause technically im a commie or do i vote for the liberal central party cause they promised to legalise gay marriage.... sigh. im going to vote in an hour and im still not sure

but also its like i live in hungary where none of the parties do what they supposed to (our "democratic" government is fascist and the literal right wing party is closet to the center than the goverment) so maybe i really should vote for the center liberal one only cause they talked about gay rights even before it was a hot topic so alright they got my gay vote

#i mean.. im gonna give one vote to the opposition and one vote to the leftist joke party so does it even matter

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allthecanadianpolitics · 3 years

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Unpopular(?)opinion: Jagmeet needs to hire a better PR person because mans is out here creating cringe tiktok content with teens. I dont want to gate keep or sound traditionalist (I realize I come off as such) Im all for tiktok content and youth envolvement, but I dont think hes on the internet enough to realize how this comes off. idk I just feel like hes trying too hard and it shows. Its like he sees what AOC is doing and is trying to do the same, without understanding what makes her cool 1/2

I feel like hes just giving conservatives ammunition against him and "moderates" may be turned off by cringe content. Maybe im just used to politicians trying to come off as charming & Jagmeet is out here trying to be hip. But he honestly comes off as the "How do you do fellow kids" and its not a good look. 😭 I just want the best for the man and im glad he's living his best life but I also want more people supporting the NDP, and i fear that this isnt helping. idk man, maybe im overreacting 2/2

just to add to my jagmeet critique: I feel like politician celebrity culture has become so much worse. The parasocial relationship between people like AOC, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, etc... and the people who follow them is actually concerning. I know politicians have always been celebrities but i feel like the gap between politician and celebrity has been completely erased. Politicians are NOT your friends 3/2

I mean I don’t think Jagmeet is failing on TikTok. He has 120,000 more followers on TikTok than on twitter and he’s been running his twitter account way longer.

His recent posts have between 60,000 and 1.4 million views and tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of likes and comments, most of which are coming from young people.

The NDP has almost always been strongest among young voters, so I don’t really see an issue bringing serious political issues to a platform that young people frequent and doing so in a respectful way that doesn’t look down on millennials and gen z.

Also who cares if Conservatives are mad? Conservatives aren’t going to vote for the NDP in general, so its a moot point. We shouldn’t be trying to play nice with Conservatives in a leftist party.

#Anonymous #ask

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animestan69 · 4 years

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Some ppl really be like "The most leftwing options amongst the major parties are not left enough :( let's cast a throwaway-vote for a joke so the rightwing major parties win again :) huh. Like... make it make sense. I mean we all hate the lack of actual leftist representation in most of politics but sometimes........ center-left is better than nothing, fellas.

This isn’t just about Die Partei but.........

Die Partei: Jugendorganisation HintnerJugend

Die Hintnerjugend (Eigenschreibweise: HintnerJugend) ist die Jugendorganisation der Partei.[148] Sie wurde unter dem Motto „Wir brauchen eine Kinder- und Jugendbewegung, weil wir eine Kinder- und Jugendbewegung brauchen!“ am 5. Juni 2005 auf dem Landesparteitag der Partei in Mannheim gegründet. Benannt ist sie nach dem Generalsekretär Thomas Hintner in Anspielung auf die Hitlerjugend.[148][149] Vorsitzende sind Michèle Scholtz und Bernd Sandner.[150]

Die Hintnerjugend kümmert sich um den politischen Nachwuchs, der dann im Anschluss an sein Engagement in der Hintnerjugend in die parteieigene Prosecco-Jugend aufsteigen kann. Der offizielle Gruß der Jugendorganisation ist: „Hi Hintner!“[151][152][153] Die Bekleidung der Hintnerjugend ist ein blaues Hemd mit grauer Hose und rotem Halstuch. Das Logo der Jugendorganisation zeigt eine rote Kaulquappe auf schwarzem Grund.[154]

This funny to yall? Is this the comedy and satire we want in our politics?

#Anonymous

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mueritos · 4 years

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Bro, that's seriously unfair. You and your sister like to over generalize alot. For one, I identify and a Democrat & Liberal, and maybe that's because Im not as educated on the matter as Id like to be, but thats that. Yet, I do think fucking like Kamala. She's disgusting & fuck & her Biden. Just because of this or that, it doesn't mean I remotely support them. BLM and I've literally argued with my own family for not believing so. Obama was gross and not a good guy. Yet you still say assumptions

youre missing the point, still. Its not about generalizing and then finding outliers, it's about how both democrats and republicans are the same breed of evil with the same blood on their hands. They are the bourgeoisie, and there’s NOTHING inherently good about any system or party or people or group that upholds capitalism. I genuinely dont care if you still ID are dem and denounce Dems, that’s not the point. The point is to realize that these parties weren't created for you, these politicians do not serve you as much as you think they do, and that these systems in place are upholding white supremacy, anti-blackness, colonialism, ableism, and bigotry of all forms. If youre more upset about some random leftists on Tumblr saying that democrats are responsible for the same crimes and bigotry as republicans and how you yourself might fit into that equation (which then prompted you to come in my inbox and prove to me how you've distanced urself from dems yet still ID as dem and liberal) than you are about how voting does nothing for indigenous liberation, that black people will never be liberated unless capitalism is destroyed, etc, then idk what to tell you other than to check yourself and your battles.

Liberalism and democrats go hand in hand in perpetuating the same censorship of leftists ideas, and these leftists ideas and practices are without a doubt for the uplifting of BIPOC/minoritized people. I have seen liberals denounce BIPOC revolutionaries and leftists for “taking it too far” for “being too loud” for taking things “too seriously”. Understand that when we make generalizations like these, they are usually called for in order for the people who ID as such to question themselves. Because even tho you may distance yourself from some democrats, if you still ID as a dem or liberals and adhere to many of those ideas....that’s still a problem.

If you really want to go further with your activism outside of liberalism, just read more leftists theory. The most basic of it, like Karl Marx, Angela Davis, etc. Listen to marginalized voices and thinkers, because even though. you may denounce the same people, you may still have problematic ideas toward activism.

Thats it. hope that helped.

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swamp-world · 3 years

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God you know i actually fucking hate internet leftists??? like. jesus christ. get your head out of your “““theory”““ and step out of the fucking echo chamber for a minute. i get that liberals “aid fascism”, and i don’t put that in air quotes because i think it’s false, but because you need to do more than just SAY that. for the LOVE OF GOD PLEASE try interacting with people outside of your own political fucking bubbles. you are NOT going to “overthrow the government and replace it with unionism and a truly democratic system”, you are NOT going to “replace your boss with a coop workplace”--all of which are excellent ideas--if you just sit around going “LIBERALS ARE TERRIBLE”. like, holy FUCK, stop blaming people for being optimistic. no, I also don’t think that capitalism can be reformed, but you don’t fucking LEARN that overnight, you don’t just go from being a fascist bootlicker to being a tankie in the span of 24 hours and a single conversation, it takes TIME and building GENUINE POSITIVE FUCKING CONNECTIONS WITH PEOPLE. no, i’m not telling Black people or queer people or POC or disabled people to go out and debate their own humanity. you do not have to do that. i’m saying that you need to stop taking ““liberals”“ who are genuinely well-meaning and well-intentioned but simply do not have the experience and knowledge that you have, and YELL at them and talk about “hope they learned their lesson” and all of those “woman who voted for face-eating leopard party surprised when leopards eat her face” things because like. fuck. people are human and believe things, im SO sorry that you don’t realize that. were you birthed into this world holding Das Kapital? did you just fucking, pop out of the womb, and your first words were “workers of the world unite”? or did it take you years, possibly decades, to grasp even the basic concepts of this?? let alone actually dive into “the theory” and connect to communities that put that into practice?

stop telling liberals to “go read theory” because that’s useless. you’re not helping people. you’re telling strangers, new to the scene, to dive headfirst into what is genuinely dense political, economic, and philosophical work. i do that full time and it’s fucking draining, bro!! i wouldn’t know where to start if someone said “go read theory”, the only reason i had any idea was legitimately because a professor handed me a book that got me into modern center-left politics, and then a friend lent me Kropotkin, and then I hit the stacks and walked into the library and picked up a book called On Anarchism because it was the first book that I saw that was relevant. theory!! is!! exhausting!!! it’s hard to understand!! and if your first reaction is to go “haha liberal they got what they deserved” when they inevitably get fucked over by the people they believed in? if your first response to someone genuinely trying to get more information, genuinely reaching out and trying to learn? asking questions? is to say “go read theory”? your political position isn’t based on genuinely caring about people, it’s about superiority. you think that you’re SUCH a good person, that you’re SO MUCH BETTER than “those fucking liberal cucks” because you rEaD tHe ThEoRy when you turned 18. if your response is “they got fucked over, hope they learned their lesson” in a condescending way? yes, i understand that harm has been done. but for the love of fucking god, show some compassion. i don’t know what brand of leftist I am. i don’t sit down at my desk staring at seven different ideological streams of philosophy and communism or anarchism. i want people to have food. i want people to have healthcare and childcare. i don’t think people should have to work their asses off just to live and have a roof over their head or not freeze in winter. i think that we can’t trust the government in its current form, and that capitalism is bad, and that workers are exploited by their bosses, and that worker-owned cooperatives or housing cooperatives are great ideas. beyond that, I don’t know. because quite frankly, I don’t consider it my job to know.

listen to me--it’s not my job to have the answers to “what will we do when the glorious revolution comes about?”. What IS my job, is to talk to people. to listen to people. to reach out and help them. my job is to also learn from people, because i am not perfect. LEFTISTS: YOU ARE NOT PERFECT. if you go around thinking that you just need to convince everyone to “the way”, then you are not interested in learning from the people around you, you are interested in converting people without having to challenge your own beliefs, or without having to consider that ACTUALLY most of the world doesn’t understand the concepts of “alienated labour” and like, genuinely, how many people do you actually think understand in a way that can be applied terms like “proletariat”? of COURSE people are freaked out by leftists. of course when you say “Defund the police” white moderates get scared. i agree with MLK--that the white moderate is the biggest threat to justice and equality. but what are you going to do about it? a tyrrany of the (leftist) minority? eliminate the moderates? or are you going to actually reach out a hand and try to help?

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tepkunset · 5 years

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is anyone else rlly scared abt the election like i hate trudeau and am a staunch leftist/anti liberal (plus our liberal party is shiiiiit) but im so scared its btwn libs and conservatives and bc of all this we're gonna end up w conservatives winning and i... like trump in 2016 all over again idk if we can take it, mainly idk if the planet can take it. i want the ndp to win but everyone acts like the only real votes are lib or conservative

Oh I am terrified to the bone. And more than that, I am so tired of feeling like I am a topic of debate and not factually a person deserving of rights.

But I can’t let that fear outweigh my moral conscience, so I’ll be voting NDP. And I’m not “splitting the vote,” we don’t have a two-party system, there wouldn’t be nearly as much fear if the Liberals actually went through with electoral reform like they promised, and the only way that’s going to actually change is if people stop acting like there are only two parties and get the NDP in. And that means not voting out of fear, but out of conscience.

#canada election #canada election 2019 #Anonymous #ask

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clareguilty · 4 years

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I’m truly not being rude, just curious here. What’s wrong with the GOP? I’m a tad bit uneducated in terms of politics so I don’t really know what’s right and wrong and who’s doing bad and whatnot. Again, not trying to offend and I’m so truly sorry if it comes off that way.

Idk how much you know abt American politics so im gonna try and explain pretty thoroughly, sorry if this comes off as condescending

The GOP, or the Grand Old Party (a scary enough name when you think about the Old American values that conservatives often fight to preserve) is the leading conservative party in the US, typically called the republicans. Conservatism in the US is wildly more regressive than it is in other countries which means that anyone who fights for what would be considered "moderate" values is labeled a radical leftist.

The GOP used to try and cloud their bad policies with nice sounding things like "states rights" and "small government" but since i live in the South that sounds a lot like worn out confederate rhetoric. These days, they kind of just seem to be rolling towards Straight Up Facism.

Conservatives and the Republican party are usually either corporations and big businesses (Wall Street, Amazon, Disney, Elon Musk) radical organizations that sponsor Bad Ideals (NRA, hateful christian groups, the literal KKK) upper and middle class white folk who tend to benefit from enforcing racism, sexism, and classism (my dad) OR people who genuinely believe that voting red will help them (this is usually the result of mad indoctrination and propaganda)

Now, if the planet weren't on the brink of international nuclear conflict, environmental devastation, and general Bad Times, I might not be so passionate about literally destroying the US republican party. But since they insist on rallying behind a genocidal maniac as their prime candidate: they gotta go.

Voting republican is unfortunately an act of violence, whether the voter intends for it to be such or not. The republican party does not care about climate change and will not fight it. They will make no attempts at international peacekeeping because war is profitable for them. Since the 2016 election, the US has seen a rise in hate crimes, antisemitism, and domestic terrorism. We have NAZIS again. The only way to make any attempts at repairing what we have lost in just the last four years is to vote for the best alternative: the democrats.

Things aren't set in stone, but it seems like there are 3 strong democratic candidates. Biden is a last resort because he's just a creepy dude and his policies are much less progressive. Warren is moderate enough to appease swing voters. Bernie has the most honor as a candidate, but i dont know how well he would handle foreign affairs. He's adamantly anti-war and I think thats our best option right now.

#i usually try and keep politics off this blog #but its at that point #ill throw a read more in there later #ask #anon #answered #us elections 2020 #this election is kind of our last chance to change things using the democratic process i feel #also this is such a short and concise version of these things #i didnt even get into the racism #or the classism #whoops

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hunterinabrowncoat · 7 years

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I came here cos i dont rlly know where else, but im from the uk and i live in a family that votes conservative in a pretty conservative area, speaking to my mum she doesnt really want to vote for any of them but shes going to vote anyway so she can have a say. What i wanted to ask was, im under the impression that whilst labour has a load of good points socially and for the good of wellbeing, there arent as many good financial points, and that labour has put us into recession before (1/?)

and that wiht brexit and everything, we dont want anymore financial difficulties? as well as on top of allthe terrorism and things, shouldnt the government stay without drastic changes for a while, just for the sake of consistency? idk this is my first year to be able to vote and im panicking cos i really feel underinformed about everything and i dont really know who to vote

Hi anon,

I’m really sorry I’ve been away from tumblr the past couple of days and tumblr’s only just told me I’ve got messages in my inbox! I hope this isn’t too late!

Given that the election is today I really don’t have time to answer this as fully and well as I’d like to, but I will try and explain as best and as quickly as a I can...

Finances.

The Tories financial policies are about austerity - squeeze the working class and the ordinary people; reduce public spending and make budget cuts across all kinds of public provisions. So the NHS gets massive cuts. So does every other government funded thing like the BBC, disability benefits for people who are too ill to work, the education system etc.

The Labour party’s financial policies are all about taxing huge corporations (that make billions and billions of pounds) and the richest people in our society (also billionaires) in order to provide the funding for things that we need, such as the NHS, the education system, welfare, pensions and other things.

I really, honestly don’t believe that this is an exaggeration or a hyperbole:

If the Tory get into power again with this government, under Theresa May, the NHS will collapse within the next few years. The Tories have already begun selling off parts of the NHS and privatizing it piece by piece (meaning that we’re heading for a healthcare system like they have in America, where if you’re too poor to afford health insurance, you die from things that are totally curable or treatable, and an accident or serious illness could literally leave you bankrupt). They are repeatedly making cuts that put a totally unreasonable strain on staff workers like Doctors and Nurses, and put patient lives at risk.

Labour’s track record

The last Labour majority government we had was under Tony Blair. He wasn’t a leftist. He was a right-wing thinker dressed in a left-wing suit. He was a disaster for the economy. He took us to war in Iraq, totally illegally. I will make no excuses for him.

Jeremy Corbyn is a completely different person. He is very left-wing. He is a man of conscience, who has voted on the right side of history for decades, long before he became a famous politician and people started paying attention.

Terrorism

As for terrorism - believe it or not, we are actually safer now from terrorism that we have been in years. There have been less terrorist attacks in the last few years than there were during the 90s with the IRA. But if you’re really concerned for our nation’s safety, consider this: Theresa May was home secretary before she became Prime Minister. It was her job to oversee the security of the nation. And all she has done is make continuous cuts to the police force, making it harder for them to do their job.

She has also announced that she plans on censoring the internet - controlling what people post and say, and giving the government the power to spy on everyone. She’s using the public’s fear of terrorism to gain control over the public. It’s fear-mongering tactics and it’s honestly abhorrent.

Voting

I can’t make you vote any particular way, anon. I know you feel uninformed. But I would urge you to vote Labour. Even if you feel like it’s not going to make a difference. Even if you’re not 100% sure.

Because under a Tory government, people are going to die. Disabled people are going to die because their benefits will be cut and they won’t have enough money to pay for their basic needs. Thousands of disabled people have already died as a result of the cuts. We can’t take any more of them. Sick people are going to die because our NHS is collapsing under the weight of the Tories heavy cuts. People are waiting for hours and hours in A&E, and waiting lists for really important, urgent appointments are months, sometimes even years long. And it’s only going to get worse.

Corbyn has been nothing but truthful, conscientious, and consistent throughout his time as Labour leader. He is honestly the first leader since I’ve been engaged with politics at all, that I actually believe cares about normal people. Because he’s shown throughout his entire political career, that he votes for the right thing, even when it’s unpopular, even when he’s the only one, even when nobody’s looking. And all of his policies are about taking care of the poorest and those most in need of help in our society.

#uk politics #uk general election #uk election #Anonymous #ask #reply

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a-wandering-fool · 6 years

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From the article:

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Apparently I’m not the only one who has noticed that social media platforms only escape direct legal responsibility for the content published on their web sites if they act as completely neutral parties who take no editorial action against content published on their web sites unless prompted to by a formal complaint.

When Digital Platforms Become Censors: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other tech giants say that they’re open forums. What happens when they start to shut down voices they consider beyond the pale?

If you rely on someone else’s platform to express unpopular ideas, especially ideas on the right, you’re now at risk. This raises troubling questions, not only for free speech but for the future of American politics and media. …

Now these companies are trying to have it both ways. They take advantage of the fact that they are not publishers to escape responsibility for the endless amounts of problematic material on their sites, from libel to revenge porn. But at the same time, they are increasingly acting like publishers in deciding which views and people are permitted on their platforms and which are not.

The thing is, it may pass First Amendment muster–as has rightly been pointed out by others, the First Amendment does not apply to corporations. (Though I find it deeply ironic how hard the Left is relying on corporations–for whom they have historic deep distrust–to censor messages for them.)

But that does not mean it necessarily passes muster with certain other laws–specifically Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which acts as a safe harbor for “information content providers” from the content published on their platforms, but only so long as those providers do not actively censor content on their platforms. Otherwise, those platforms are not “information content providers”, but “publishers” who are liable for all the content on their sites.

Nor does it pass anti-trust laws, which is the angle provided in the above article. After all, Alex Jones’ “InfoWars” is itself a media operation–and in competition with companies such as Facebook and YouTube, with CNN and MSNBC. And when one set of media companies shuts down another from the public square–that could be considered prior restraint of trade.

And while one could answer “well, if he really wants to be in the public square, he should do the same heavy lifting internet companies like Facebook has done”–that is a problematic answer itself. Because it suggests for any of us to want to speak our minds on the Internet, if what we want to say is unpopular or seen as hateful, only the extremely wealthy–those who can afford the thousands and thousands of dollars to set up an Internet trunk line and massive servers on multiple coasts–can speak.

I mean, this is the very argument the Left has been using for a while now in its opposition to Citizens United: that it permits a handful of very wealthy individuals and large corporations to monopolize the public square–and to drown out or eliminate alternate political viewpoints.

Or is it the Left only care about such things when it’s their voices who are not in ascendency?

And does this mean to the Left, freedom is like a trolly car: you keep riding it until you get to your stop–then you get off?

Worse–the Internet is corporations all the way down. After all, even if you can afford to spend the thousands of dollars a month for a dedicated trunk line–you still have to buy the trunk line from a Tier 1, 2 or 3 provider. And who is to say that a Tier 2 provider (such as Comcast) or a Tier 1 provider (such as AT&T) won’t be pressured to cut you off from the Internet for saying something people don’t like?

After all, that’s what happened to Pirate Bay, though they were cut off because they were clearly violating the law by pirating music, movies and software.

Without access to a Tier 1 or a Tier 2 provider, you��re left with… what? Running your own fiberoptic cables under the ocean and becoming a Tier 1 provider yourself?

Isn’t that the essence of the Left’s objection to “Citizens United” on steroids?

In the Left’s long march through the institutions a lot of wreckage has been left behind. We’re seeing colleges become jokes. We’re seeing newspapers and television news falling ratings and revenues. We’re watching many other institutions disintegrate–and the latest is seeing a lot of powerful Internet companies, protected by Sarbanes-Oxley from competition from young upstarts (to the point where to make money in technology today, you can’t just create a new idea–you must create an idea that one of Facebook, Apple, Google or Amazon will buy) sow the seeds of their own destruction.

And the reason why this “long march” simply does not work in the United States is because unlike Western Europe, whom the Marxists saw as an impediment to the socialist state they saw as the precursor to true communismand whose culture (of Christianity, authority, family tradition, sexual restraint and patriotism) needed to be destroyed–the United States was founded on the philosophical principles of the Freedom of Man:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And any agenda of “radical egalitarianism” proposed by the Left in the United States must deal with the real, fundamental and existential question “how is your ‘radical egalitarianism’ better than our devotion to individual liberty?”

As Calvin Coolidge noted in 1926 on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence:

About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

It’s no wonder those who best embrace the Left’s assertions of “radical egalitarianism” in this country–the fools who join Antifa incorrectly believing–as the (Marxist) Frankfurt School believed–that the United States (having embraced Christianity, authority, family tradition, sexual restraint and patriotism) was ripe for a Fascist uprising similar to the National-Socialists of Germany in the run-up to World War II–are often historically ignorant and culturally blind.

Because unlike the rest of Western Europe, we have already embraced “radical egalitarianism.” Our Declaration of Independence is a declaration to the world of our belief in “radical egalitarianism”, in individualism, and in the supremacy of individualism over the State. Ours is already a country where cultures and governments bend to the needs of the individual, rather than the other way around.

Our governments print voting pamphlets in every native language spoken by the voting population rather than demands our populations learn English to participate in government. Our governments provide reasonable religious accommodation for all faiths and religions–permitting women to wear hijabs in their drivers licenses, for example–rather than going to war against women for wearing the wrong style of dress.

Our history is full of individuals practicing all lifestyles: a century ago we went through a “Christian Perfectionism” phase, where “Perfectionists” of all sorts created great communes to practice odd and interesting lifestyles. One of these “Christian Perfectionist” communities was the Oneida Community, who practiced “free love” (in fact, that’s where we get the term), and started a small company to fund their community which still exists today.

So when the “Antifa” shows up, to Americans they look like NAZI brownshirts but in another guise. We may look at a President Trump with trepidation–after all, every 4 to 8 years we replace the most powerful man in the free world with some inexperienced noob, and Lord knows what sort of chaos that may give rise to. But as radical individualists, the sort of “anti-fascism” being sold by a bunch of often aging radical Leftists does not look like progress.

It looks reactionary, not progress–like proceeding backwards to feudalism (the precursor of socialism), to a time when the world was organized as surfs under the thumb of their (Antifa) manor Lords.

So let the Left continue its long march through the institutions.

Some of these institutions desperately need tearing down and rethinking anyway.

Certainly Facebook has exceeded its usefulness, as has Twitter, and I welcome the next iteration.

Perhaps a more democratic solution based on a common protocol such as RSS,with a search directory that allows us to find our friends and subscribe to their individual feeds without the filtering of a profit-oriented Facebook who wants to rearrange our timelines and insert ads as they see fit.

I mean, hell; all you need is a discovery mechanism associated with RSS which allows an RSS publisher to automatically publish a directory of the RSS feeds of the people they’re subscribed to–and you’ve pretty much replicated Facebook’s “friending” process.

Hoist this on top of a peer to peer networking system with cryptographic handshaking to prevent governments and corporations from intercepting (and censoring) wire messages, and you now have a completely distributed replacement for Facebook–all built on open protocols, that can conceivably then allow individual developers to produce their own clients.

But I am not worried at all about our dedication to Individualism.

The world is moving towards individualism, after all–not away. Unless there is a very powerful authoritarian government on the doorstep of a weaker government, such as Russia chipping away at Ukraine or at Georgia, for most people we are moving towards greater individualism, towards greater individual responsibility and towards greater individual freedom.

Because everyone yearns to breathe free.

Even the Antifa folks yearn to breathe free. They only take the path they do because they’ve been taught that their brand of socialist-communist double-think is a freer path to greater individual autonomy than the alternatives they completely misunderstand. But then, it takes an academic (or a student of that academic) in order to be that fucking stupid.

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determinate-negation · 7 years

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wait whats the difference between leftists and liberals? and whats a socialist? i would google it but i feel like id get a lot of misinformation or biased stuff and i feel like youre the best/smartest person to ask

leftist are generally further left than liberals and more radical as well as anticapitalist. basically leftists dont really like liberals bc we dont think theyre left wing enough. like a lot of liberals just honestly dont really care, or only care conditionally, about minorities rights and they dont recognize how capitalism is a problem and is tied in inseparably from racism and sexism and etc. liberals also tend to put their faith in the democratic party who, while i do think theyre better than the republican party, have also done a lot of really awful shit and are still a for profit organization. theres a lot of other critiques of liberals but yeah

really basically defined socialism is when the means of production are democratically owned by the workers. so rather than the ceo of a company owning a company and making thousands of dollars an hour for not even doing work while workers get minimum wage, people who work at the company are democratically in control of it and can decide their own wages, vacations etc socialists believe capitalism is exploitive and connected to racism sexism and other forms of oppression. basically socialism is about things being more equal and democratic and most socialists also advocate for everything being more democratic, not only economic settings but political settings like the government. instead of the type of democracy we have right now where we vote once every 4 years and thats it, and everything else is decided by representatives and government officials, who are often times appointed, not even elected, most socialists want govt officials to all be elected through direct democracy, not outdated shit like the electoral college

heres a video on capitalist vs socialist workplace which is pretty good. its a bit outdated bc its talking about factories which have been mostly automated but yeah i hope this explains some things

youtube

im not super good at explaining all of this so u could look it up to but i think most of the times definitions of socialism and communism are biased unless theyre being defined and explained by other leftists. theres definitely a lot more to socialism but this is kinda the general idea

#Anonymous #liberalism #socialism

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groundramon · 6 years

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'i hate the party that doesnt explicitly support trans people as well as it should and the party that explicitly wants to make it legal to be violent towards trans people equally' is absolutely a reasonable, responsible position. yup. nice work. it's not just your life on the line, pal. that holier-than-voting attitude hurts the entire lgbt community.

That’s not what I fucking said. If it was that simple then duh.

I hate the party that abuses minorities to fit their political agenda and wants to shape the country in a way i believe is harmful for my future (as in, collapsing the economy so bad that I die) as much as the party that believes freedom of speech is more important than my inalienable rights and safety as a human being.

Big democrats don’t give a fuck about me any more than big republicans. They just want to keep themselves in power by going after the people who were shunned by the other side. A lot of republicans don’t want us dead either, they just want us to conform to their side. Quite frankly, the democrats aren’t any different than that. Dare I point out how Hillary Clinton’s husband used the whitehouse to assault women, and how she defended them, and I’ll be called a nazi apologist. I always want to be careful with any potential racism or antisemitism that I may have internalized, but I’m also not going to shut up about how the Clintons are NOT good people.

And im not holier than thou!! god bless the people who go out and vote!!! but i for one do not have the mental stability to exercise that right at the moment because of blatant political lies from both sides and the fact that tumblr likes to fearmonger and spread rumors.

I reblog things without fact checking but unlike on tumblr, IRL me ACTUALLY CARES about fact checking, and fact checking thoroughly. And sometimes I factcheck things on tumblr and they’re a load of crap. Other times they’re very real. But it’s exhausting to have to do thorough research on everything, especially when even mainstream media (and i dont mean in a “CNN and New York Times are Liberal Scum but Fox News is an objective source” way btw, fox news sucks absolute ass and most other news sources just depend on the author) isn’t reliable.

I can’t handle the stress of participating in democracy when I’m being manipulated at every angle and will never get my facts straight until I’m able to read Complex Shit That I Don’t Understand (like actual statistics).

I’m not allowing you to emotionally manipulate me into voting your way when I can’t make an informed decision. I’ll do things my way and I’m not going to let you make me feel bad about myself for taking care of myself.

And do you think I was fucking having a panic attack over MY life? I could care less about my own life. It’s my friends lives that I’m worried about. All the kind trans people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting throughout my life. I’d live the rest of my life in the closet if it meant they could all be respected for who they are for the rest of their lives.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe republicans or democrats will give that to us. Or rather, I don’t believe the people I would be able to vote for at these midterms would affect it.

I’ve actually done legitimate research into the house representatives running for this election in my area and I’ve had a very hard time finding their stances on issues I care about. The republican candidate’s policies on government spending make the most sense to me, however her votes for LGBT rights are all over the place. The democratic candidate’s policies on government are exactly the problem with California, and I want no part of that spreading to the federal government, thanks.

Keep in mind that the richest fucks in the USA live primarily in California. All those hollywood abusers? California! They’re friends with politicians and shit-whatnot and California hasn’t done hell about it.

California is such a different state than most of the USA. Part of the reason I put a “don’t RB” on my original post (but not the primary reason) is because it’s something that only a select few individuals in the USA can relate to. A lot of places have a VERY different culture than California, and I know this. I’m not voting between someone who wants gay people dead and someone who wants gay people alive - there’s much more to them than that and furthermore, there aren’t a lot of republicans in southern california that are on that extremist side. Homophobic republicans, yes of course. But my parents are shocked whenever I bring up violent homophobes despite being VERY homophobic themselves.

In my case, I’m voting between someone who has had a very wish-washy stance on LGBT people (re-elected) and someone who wants to reform healthcare and government budgets in a way I don’t agree with.

I just turned 18 less than a month ago. In the future, I plan to exercise my right - in particular I will for the next presidential election (altho lets face it, unless an independent candidate makes it, California will go blue anyways and all its votes will go to the democratic candidate). But I am not going to make an uninformed vote when I know I’ve been fed propaganda from both sides.

(I’m saying both sides not because I’m equating democrats to rebublicans btw, I’m saying it because I’ve been fed conservative propaganda all my life, and I’m still working to unlearn it. And the lies that float around the leftist internet don’t help me unlearn my biases at all.)

So fuck off, anon.

#literally shut the fuck up i have spent SO LONG thinking about my democratic obligations you have no idea #i have been TRYING to think of a way to help in the democratic process but I can't think of a good way to do such #in my UNIQUE POSITION #obviously calling would help - and id like to do that but I need a written speech first #and a time when my parents arent home #i have seen your arguments OVER AND OVER anon. you have no business coming into my inbox and acting so self-righteous.#YOU are the reason I don't vote. Because people like YOU insist that I vote YOUR WAY and I can't make an informed vote.#my own knowledge and opinions are very important to me and you people refuse to let me come to that.#you insist that i need to vote. and i dont feel comfortable voting until i do more research.#its a PERSONAL THING that i know is MY PROBLEM but when you guys make it a MORAL PROBLEM and a BIGGER ISSUE then i get fucking pissed #i know im selfish for doing it! selfishness is a neutral trait! leave me the fuck alone!#stormy speaks #stormy answers #i am literally so fucking mad im sorry but like. how do you miss the point of my post SO BADLY.#my post was LITERALLY TO SPITE PEOPLE LIKE YOU. shut up you're not helping anything

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